NBA: Paul Pierce's return to Garden could bring down house

Tonight is the night Celtics fans have been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Paul Pierce will return to the Garden, but wearing a Brooklyn Nets uniform.

It will be as odd as Tom Brady returning to Gillette Stadium as a Dolphin, or David Ortiz swinging a bat at Fenway Park for the Orioles, and far worse than Tim Thomas tending goal at the TD Garden for the Florida Panthers.

Yes, Kevin Garnett — and Jason Terry, for that matter — also will suit up for the Nets as former Celtics, but they hadn't spent their entire careers in Boston like Pierce before he was dealt to Brooklyn. Pierce played his first 15 NBA seasons as a Celtic before Danny Ainge traded him, Garnett, Terry and D.J. White to Brooklyn on July 12 for Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph and first-round picks in 2014, 2016, 2018, and the option to swap first-round picks in 2017.

Only Robert Parish played more regular-season games as a Celtic before returning to the Garden as an opposing player. Parish played in 1,106 for the Celtics, four more than Pierce, but Parish logged his first four seasons for Golden State before coming to Boston.

Only Parish and Pierce rank among the top 10 Celtics in regular-season games played who didn't retire as Celtics. To help sell tickets, Bob Cousy came out of retirement to play seven games as a player-coach of the Cincinnati Royals, but thankfully none of them were in Boston.

Pierce ranks first in Celtics history in free throws made (6,434) and attempted (7,979); second in scoring average (21.8), points (24,021) and field-goal attempts (17,380); third in games (1,102), minutes (40,329) and made field goals (7,876); fourth in assists (4,305) and triple-doubles (10); fifth in All-Star Game appearances (10), and seventh in rebounds (6,651).

Last season, Pierce served as captain of the Celtics for the 13th consecutive year, tying Cousy for the most.

Pierce was proudest, however, of leading the Green to their 17th and most recent NBA championship in 2008 and being honored as NBA Finals MVP. His No. 34 certainly will be retired and raised to the Garden rafters one day. That night won't be much more emotional than tonight.

"It's going to be a lot of emotions," Pierce told reporters after the Nets beat Dallas Friday. "You play your whole life there, you win a championship there — I mean, being the first time back.…It's going to be special. I don't know how I'll react, what emotions are going to be going through my head."

Former Celtics coach Doc Rivers believes Pierce's return to the Garden will be even more touching than his when he coached the Clippers to victory over the Celtics on Dec. 11.

"That's going to be awesome," Rivers said. "It's going to be crazy."

The Celtics plan to show a video tribute to Pierce and Garnett.

"We want to give these guys the tribute they deserve," Celtics president Rich Gotham said. "So it will be a little bit more involved. It's hard when it's during a game because there's only so much you can do."

The Celtics should try to make Pierce and Garnett so emotional, they won't be able to play well.

"I just know," Garnett said, "that the emotions will probably be high, just because of the success that we had while we were in Boston. We had some really good years there, some really promising years. I think it's going to be forever, we're embedded in it.…

"I think anybody who's part of that run and part of that era will always be remembered. Bostonians, New Englanders, they understand that and they never forget their favorites. We was fortunate to be part of that whole transformation."

Pierce and Garnett did not travel to Boston when the Celtics played the Nets at the Garden in a preseason game on Oct. 23. So tonight's 6:30 game on ESPN will be their first visit since the trade.

"Paul spent his whole career there and never really wanted to leave," Rivers said. "That will be a neat evening for them, and again, especially for Paul."

"It's tough," Celtics legend Kevin McHale said. "I think if Danny had his druthers, he probably would've liked to have Paul retire as a Celtic. But today's economics and all the things that happen, it's just hard. Things have changed a great deal. I think the old days where you go to a franchise and stay there, those are going to be less and less, but they're still happening. (Tim) Duncan will finish his career as a Spur. Kobe (Bryant) will finish his career as a Laker. It still happens, but it's going to become way more infrequent than it used to be. So Danny did what he had to do."

The Nets will also be at the Garden on March 7, which could be Pierce's and Garnett's last game at the Garden. They may retire at season's end. Pierce is 36 and in the final year of his contract. Garnett is 37 and has been paid well over $300 million in salary in his career, the most in NBA history, so he may pass up the $12 million he's due next season and retire as well.

With Jason Kidd making the adjustment from player to head coach and Deron Williams and Brook Lopez missing games with injuries, the Nets and their league-record $180 million payroll stumbled to an embarrassing 3-10 start and were only 10-21 through December.

In 2014, however, they've won nine of their last 10 to move into the playoff picture in the weak Eastern Conference. The Nets also closed within 2½ games of Atlanta entering Saturday, which is important to Celtics fans because the Hawks can swap picks with Brooklyn this June and Boston will end up with the one Atlanta doesn't want.

The Nets began their hot streak with a 95-93 victory at Oklahoma City on Jan. 2.

"They were having a tough stretch," Thunder center Kendrick Perkins said, "and I think we got them going. It don't surprise me. One thing I know about KG and Paul is they're going to be great leaders. I know one thing, any time they step on the court, they're going to bring it. Just from the outside looking in, it kind of looked like they both took a back seat to Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. They are guys who are willing to sacrifice."

Perkins predicted that the Nets would be tough to beat in the playoffs.

Kidd has tried his best not to burn out the aging Pierce and Garnett so they're averaging the fewest minutes of their long NBA careers. Pierce also is averaging a career low in scoring (12.9), and his 40.9 percent shooting is his lowest in a decade and the second lowest of his career. After leading the Celtics in scoring each of the past 13 years, he ranks only fourth on the Nets.

Garnett is averaging only 6.9 points, a career low by 3.5 and 8 fewer than last year, as well as 6.8 rebounds, the second fewest in his career. He's shooting 41.9 percent, another career low by far and huge a drop-off from the 49.6 he shot last season. Garnett has shot 67.4 percent (31 of 46) this month, however, after shooting only 36.4 percent previously.

Celtics fans will always think of McHale as a Celtic and McHale believes they'll think of Pierce the same way.

"Paul will always be remembered as a Celtic," McHale said. "I know he's in Brooklyn right now. He had a great career and won a championship. He'll be remembered as a Celtic."

Looking ahead to the lottery, Celtics fans wouldn't even mind if the Nets won tonight's game.

Celtics 4th most valuable

Despite their losing record, the Celtics rank as the fourth-most valuable NBA franchise, according to Forbes magazine. Forbes said the Celtics are worth $875 million, up 20 percent over last year when they were worth $730 million. Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and their partners made a wise investment when they purchased the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.

The average value of an NBA team is $634 million, an increase of 25 percent over last year. ESPN, ABC and TNT pump $930 million a year into the NBA. The Celtics also receive $36 million a year from CSNNE in what Forbes said is the fourth-most lucrative local television deal in the NBA. The Lakers rank first in local TV money at $122 million a year.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.